Memories in Snowflakes
by ObsidianJade
Summary: And as new flakes floated down, glittering in the lamplight, those memories formed, as crystalline and perfect as the snowflakes. Team Minato mirrors Team Seven in more ways than one. Very sweet, very short one-shot.


I started writing this back in September, with every intention of posting it for Christmas, which somehow came and went essentially without me. However…. there's still snow on the ground in some parts of the country, so I guess it still applies. Enjoy!

I know it probably doesn't snow this much in Konoha, but I took a bit of license. The story itself was too good to pass up, particularly right now. I need some happy Kakashi.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Right now I wish Kishimoto-sama didn't, either.

Warnings: None.

Timeline: Set pre-Kakashi Gaiden, Team Minato is about ten, and at the end Team Seven is still fairly young. I know there wasn't really room for it before the Chuunin exam arc, just pretend there was…

**MEMORIES IN SNOWFLAKES**

"Flash technique is _cheating_, damnit!"

Minato-sensei just snickered and danced backwards, away from Kakashi's fist, shaking off what little snow remained on his hand. The rest of it was currently melting down the back of Kakashi's shirt.

"Cheater, cheater – HEY!!!" Obito's voice rose to a shriek as Minato appeared directly behind him and stuffed a handful of snow down his shirt as well.

"Ramen eater?" the future Hokage suggested, arms akimbo, a childish grin bright on his face. He was distracted enough by Kakashi and Obito charging him in a rare display of teamwork that he didn't notice Rin sneaking up behind him with an immense armload of snow.

Or at least, the assumed he didn't, until he flashed out, leaving all of them to collide with echoing knocks of their heads. Rin's payload of snow flew up in the air, seeming to hover indecisively for a moment, before _fwump_-ing back down on the stunned trio.

Snickering, Minato walked back to them, meeting the glare of his three students with a beaming grin of his own.

"Say 'Uncle'?" he inquired, raising his eyebrows at the three youths still sprawled in the snow.

The barest tap of one toe against another was the only sign of the trio's communication, before six hands, all laden with snowballs, came up. Minato politely allowed all of them to hit.

Enough of it got into his face that he couldn't see quite well enough to avoid the triple flying tackle that sent him onto his back in the snow, sprawled carelessly and laughing his head off.

"Say 'Uncle'?" prompted Obito teasingly, sitting on his teacher's chest. Kakashi, directly behind him on Minato's stomach, peered around the Uchiha's shoulder to eye the blond man. Rin, sitting across Minato's knees, gave a soft giggle.

They hadn't pinned Minato's hands, and he could have escaped them at any time. But, glancing up at his students; two beaming, one blank-faced beneath his mask – he held up his hands in laughing surrender.

"Uncle, uncle. Uncle Teuchi, even. Ramen for everyone, my treat."

And the three youths helped him up, two smiling and laughing, one stone-silent, and they ate Ramen while their clothes dried, teasing Kakashi about his eating habits and Kakashi retaliated by poking fun at Obito, until the Uchiha snapped and threw his empty bowl at Kakashi, and Minato picked them both up by the backs of their shirts and pitched them headfirst into a snowbank. And as new flakes floated down, glittering in the lamplight, those memories formed, as crystalline and perfect as the snowflakes…

Which was why, sixteen years later, when Kakashi wound up on his back in the snow with two laughing and one expressionless genin pinning him to the ground, he ignored the fact that they'd left his hands free and offered sincerely to buy them all lunch at Ichiraku.

And later, when he pitched the two squabbling boys headfirst into a snowbank, he paused for a moment to stare at the silently falling flakes, remembering older versions of those dark eyes and that sunny smile, and while he was distracted Naruto launched a dozen Shadow Clones out of the snowbank to bury the Jounin in armloads of snow.

And even though he hadn't back then, Kakashi laughed.


End file.
